Open season on zebras

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This article was published 25/09/2010 (5526 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

‘WE was robbed!”

To say that was the senti­ment from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers locker-room following the 44-40 collapse to the Montreal Alouettes at Canad Inns Stadium would be an under­statement. There was no hidden mes­sage from the players or talking around the topic of zebras after the game.

No, it was a full-on assault on the of­ficiating crew from the Bomb Squad after the game — and the players’ wal­lets will certainly be coming out this week.

“You can’t get fined for sarcasm, I don’t think,” defensive tackle Doug Brown carefully offered after the crushing defeat that saw the home side fall to 3-9 on the season. “That’s a lovely teaching tape for anyone interested in getting involved in officiating in the CFL. Perfect, flawless performance out there.”

Others wearing Blue and Gold were a little more straightforward with their criticism towards referee Murray Clarke and his group.

“For these referees to come out here and showcase poor judgmental skills is beyond me,” defensive end Phillip Hunt said. “What they have against the Win­nipeg Blue Bombers, or if they’re get­ting paid by the Alouettes… I think the referees need to have a (meeting) with the CFL and they need to talk some­thing over, because this is sad.

“We work so hard to win the game, and they (the officials) lose it for us.”

A frustrated Hunt was just getting started. He said the Bombers didn’t play a flawless game by any stretch, but he felt they played well enough to win and gain some momentum heading into the biggest stretch of the season — a home-and-home series with B.C. that will probably decide a playoff spot for the Winnipeg side.

“I (have) never seen such poor offi­ciating — in any sport, in any league,” he said. “This is beyond me. I have no more comments, really.”

The were a number of calls — spe­cifically late in the game when the Als were driving to take the lead in the last two minutes of the game — that fueled the Bombers’ fire. The illegal contact called on linebacker Clint Kent with the visitors facing a second-and-five was one of them, and drew the ire of the 26,154 in the stands that was already in full boil.

Polo Park became downright unruly when the ruling came down from the replay booth that Jamel Richardson did not have possession of the ball when he fumbled inside Bombers territory. Richardson looked to take a step with the ball before fumbling on a hit by safety Ian Logan, a ball that Winnipeg recovered.

“What’s the point of working if they (the officials) are just going to hand the game to Montreal?” centre Obby Khan asked. “Without a doubt I feel the refs did. It’s a professional league, we’re pro­fessional players… and it doesn’t seem like that (professionalism) is all around. You expect the calls to be equal. With­out seeing the film, I don’t feel like they were.

“The ref (took) the game ball,” Khan added. “For making calls like that, they probably deserve the game ball.”

All told, the Bombers were flagged 15 times for 163 yards, with five of those infractions coming as pass interfer­ence or illegal contact-on-a-receiver calls (which amounted to 80 yards). On the flip side, Montreal took 12 penalties for 105 yards.

“I’ve been brought up to know that you have to beat the refs and the other team sometimes,” quarterback Steven Jyles said, looking calm in an other­wise emotional locker-room. “You can’t do anything about that… you can’t point the fingers at the referees.”

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca